Essay about Working in Groups

When working in groups, students are usually evaluated on others work. If they did a good job then everything is fine, but if they did a bad job, it could potentially hurt the evaluation process. Working in groups has many downsides and few upsides for its participants. Positive things about working in groups are very limited.

One of the positive things about group work is that work can be divided among several people, which can help the job get done faster than if it was all done by one person; like John Heywood said: “Many hands make light work. ” Another good thing is that a group of people brainstorming together will come up with more ideas and solutions than a single person working alone. Vincent Lombardi, an NFL coach, once said that “Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. Everyone must do his or her part in order to be successful and get a good evaluation. This does not always happen. On the contrary, group work has too many downsides. One negative thing about working in groups is that when you have many different ideas and opinions, disagreements are bound to arise, which can stall the project. Some other negatives about group work are that if one person doesn't complete their task, the whole project will suffer; the bigger the group, the more difficult it is to schedule times when everyone can get together.

Most times, there is always one person that says they do not know how to do anything; another, that always does all the work and then is going insane, and one that does not do anything until the last minute. “There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. ” This quote by Indira Gandhi is right on point. Every group always has these kinds of people and that should be taken into consideration by the professor when evaluating. The evaluation process for group works is usually very unfair because it is not individual.

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It would be considered unfair because individual contributions are probably not reflected in the grades, weaker ones students disadvantage stronger students, and it may be perceived as unfair by students. Daphne Patai, a university professor, once said: “The professor needs to investigate and learn how the group in fact functioned and who did what. I believe this way the professor makes sure that the grading process is fair for everyone. ” Working in groups is supposed to be fun.

It should teach the participants how to communicate, how to be responsible, how to collaborate with others, and how to do teamwork. Instead, it makes you want to never want to work in a group again, not trust anyone in the group, and always double check everyone’s work just in case there could be anything wrong. Cathy Middlecamp said: “When you put students into groups, many of the hard working students do all of the work and the lazy students do nothing and still receive the same grade. This is not fair to those who worked hard, or to those who sat in the corner and talked the entire time. Because of all of the arguments presented above, I believe that working in groups is not wise unless the professor gives individual grades; even then, I do not like working in groups.

Works Cited

1. "Grading Group Projects. html “Indira Gandhi Quotes. ” Brainy Quote. Web. 1 Jan. 2013.
2. http://www. brainyquote. com/quotes/quotes/i/indiragand109081. html "Inspirational Quotes About Team Work.  " Inspiring Team Work Quotes And Short Teamwork Stories. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
3. http://www. values. com/inspirational-quotes/value/92-Team-Work "Teamwork Quotes. " Desktop Quotes. Web. 11 Jan. 2013.
4. http://www. desktop-quotes. com/teamwork-quotes. html "Teaching Stories: Disadvantages of Collaborative Learning. " CL1. Web. 11 Jan. 2013.
5. http://www. wcer. wisc. edu/archive/cl1/cl/story/middlecc/TSCMD. htm

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